Apprentice
The Apprentice is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the fourth episode of the fourth season. He is portrayed by guest star Timothy Webber. The Apprentice is based on a character of the same name from the poem, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". History As part of his duties, the Apprentice protects the Sorcerer's creation, a box capable of transforming into a hat for absorbing and accumulating magic, from each person that takes on the Dark One's powers. As an added measure of security, the Sorcerer curses the box so those who have succumbed to darkness may never open it, and only someone who has been tempted into darkness but has not given into it can do the opposite. While sweeping the grounds of the box's location, the latest Dark One, Zoso, arrives in an attempt to open the guarded relic. The Apprentice, after being magically thrown aside by Zoso, watches the Dark One's futile endeavor to access the box's contents only to be blasted away by the artifact's magic. Once he informs the Dark One of why his mission will never succeed, a beaten Zoso teleports away. Years later, Zoso is unseated by the next Dark One, Rumplestiltskin, who also conspires to possess the Sorcerer's box and utilize the hat within it. The Apprentice, now living in a small cottage, stores the box in his basement for safekeeping. By some method, he ingests a poison that Rumplestiltskin created, which will transmutate him into a mouse. In a deal with Anna, Rumplestiltskin sends her to put a bottled substance, which she presumes to be poison, into the Apprentice's tea. In actuality, it is an antidote to cure him. During one day, the Apprentice opens his door to Anna and invites her in for tea and biscuits. He even allows her to stay at his home as long as she desires. As he busily sweeps the floor, Anna checks on the boiling kettle. Despite Rumplestiltskin's instructions, she is unable to harm the kindly man and dumps the bottled substance into a fire. After Anna's departure from the cottage, he turns into a mouse. Since discovering the truth, Anna rushes to the Apprentice's house and begs Rumplestiltskin to undo the poison's effects, but the Dark One tricks the girl into nearly succumbing to darkness, though she ultimately turning away from it, which allows him access to the box containing the hat. After Rumplestiltskin gains the box, the Apprentice, in mouse form, jumps onto and bites the Dark One's hand. Startled, Rumplestiltskin drops the dagger, to which Anna seizes it and commands him to give the box to her. She forces him into sending her and the box to Arendelle as well as reverting the Apprentice into a human. Since regaining human form, the Apprentice resumes life at his cottage until he is approached by the Snow Queen, Ingrid, who wishes to make a deal with the Sorcerer in exchange for returning the hat. He cites that the Sorcerer does not make deals; especially since she has succumbed to darkness. Then, holding her at sword-point, the Apprentice demands the hat. Ingrid won't return it until the deal is fulfilled, so he asks her what she wants. Put simply, she desires happiness. Ingrid reminisces about her happy times with her sisters, which ended because she has magic while they did not. Due to this, she wants sisters who have magic. Having already chosen her niece as one sister, Ingrid asks for another who must be a perfect match. The Apprentice warns such a match is hard to come by, but she insists on waiting as long as necessary. After much searching, the Apprentice finds Ingrid in Arendelle. The Apprentice confirms a third sister has been located, but she hasn't been born yet. Going by the Sorcerer's word, he advises against giving the hat to Rumplestiltskin or she'll never find her happy ending. Materializing a portal door to another realm, he receives the hat from Ingrid and gives her a scroll, which will locate the third sister in due time. As he opens the door, Ingrid disappears into it. At some unknown point in time, the Sorcerer and his Apprentice choose a man named Isaac to be the next Author, however, he proves to be manipulative when he sends Snow White and Prince Charming to the Apprentice's cottage in order to change their story. The couple desire a way to rid their unborn child of the potential to be evil, and the Apprentice advises it can only be done by infusing darkness in another living vessel. Snow White and Prince Charming then steal Maleficent's egg for the Apprentice, who casts a spell to implant darkness in it. As part of the enchantment, he must send the vessel to another world to keep this land safe from it, but Snow White and Prince Charming are horrified at this unexpected price since they promised to return the egg to Maleficent. As a portal opens and the egg hatches into a baby, the two try to save the child before being interrupted by Cruella and Ursula, who berate them for what they've done. In the midst of an argument, Cruella, Ursula and the baby are sucked into the portal. Afterwards, the Apprentice confronts Isaac for forcing him into casting the spell on the child inside the egg. When Isaac casually states it helped to make a better story, the Apprentice deems him corrupt as well as undeserving of his job as Author and banishes him into the storybook's door illustration. After Issac's banishment, the Apprentice goes to speak with the Sorcerer about what transpired, assuring him that while the imprisoned Author can still record stories, he can never change them again. He hopes for a way to undo Isaac's manipulations, but the Sorcerer cannot, as the fates of both children have always been entwined. Sometime after this, the Apprentice travels to the Land Without Magic to meet Maleficent's child, Lily, on a bus. He admits having involvement in determining her fate and explains that the darkness in her life is caused by something beyond her control. Lily, at first, thinks he is crazy, but she starts to believe him. Before giving her the whole truth, he tells her about her birth mother. }} }} As the heroes work to stop Isaac from changing everyone's stories, August directs them into seeking help from the Apprentice, who Mother Superior frees from the hat. Getting right to the problem, the Apprentice explains they must retrap Isaac into the door illustration. While he goes with Emma and Regina to find Isaac at the pawnshop, Henry, his grandparents and Hook search the loft for the illustration. However, Isaac rewrites happy endings before they can reach him. After Henry becomes the new Author and reverts Isaac's work, the Apprentice counsels him about not misusing the quill's powers. Henry hopes to use it to revive his deceased father, but the Apprentice advises that not even an Author can bring back the dead, and the best way to honor someone is to record their stories. Realizing the power to alter reality is not something anyone should have, Henry snaps the quill in half. Later, the Apprentice is sought after by Belle to help a dying Mr. Gold, whose heart is nearly destroyed by darkness. Taking out Mr. Gold's heart, he absorbs all the darkness within it into the hat. When the darkness escapes, it leeches onto the Apprentice, but Emma uses her light magic to free him. He then tells her about the Sorcerer's history with the darkness that led him to tether it to a human soul, which created the Dark One and the dagger. As the only means to contain the darkness, he advises her to seek out the Sorcerer, Merlin. }} Trivia *He is described as, "an elderly, grizzled and unflappable knight who for many, many years has dedicated himself to serving a righteous cause".http://tvline.com/2014/08/05/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-spoilers-sheldon-train/ *His transformation into a mouse is a reference to Mickey Mouse, the Sorcerer's Apprentice in Fantasia. *According to Rumplestiltskin, he is thousands of years old; making him one of the two oldest known residents of the Fairy Tale Land. The other one is the Sorcerer. *According to a note on the board in the Storybrooke library, the owner of his house is Yen Sid,File:412ApprenticeHouse.png a reference to the powerful sorcerer from Disney's Fantasia. Appearances References Category:Male Characters Category:Season Four Characters Category:Once Upon a Time Characters